


I Know What I Like

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Play Along [18]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, F/M, M/M, musician au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 08:10:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7500708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "SG1/Atlantis, Cam/John, Back to Black." Rodney is the first to figure out John's newest secret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Know What I Like

For about two seconds, Rodney was damn proud of himself, because he was pretty sure he’d figured out this thing about John and Cam before anyone else. And then he was - he wasn’t sure what. Watching Cam and John leaning in to the same microphone, singing together and grinning at each other made something tighten in Rodney’s chest. It was something the Space Monkeys did every show, revived one of the covers from their old garage band days. For a while it was always Hallelujah, because that segued seamlessly into Hum Hallelujah, but after a few nights they discussed it, and they decided to change it up. Have every concert experience be unique, especially for the tour groupies who followed the bands from city to city.  
  
When John pitched The Best of You by The Foo Fighters, Rodney was a little iffy at first, because it required much grittier vocals than John tended to do, and while Ronon could pull them off, Rodney didn’t want to be the Snakeskinners Lite. And then Jennifer, of all people, had a fabulous idea. Why not ask Cam to lend his vocals to the cover?  
  
“Ask him, John,” Jennifer said. “You know him best.”  
  
It was true that, of the Space Monkeys, Cam spent the most time with John (and everyone pretended not to notice the heated, flirty glances Ronon and Amelia were trading). So John nodded and smiled - and that’s when Rodney noticed it, the fondness in John’s smile - and he promised to ask Cam.  
  
Rodney expected there to be some kind of contractual firestorm over the whole thing, the two bands crossing into each other’s realms, but Elizabeth and Xiaoyi (the Snakeskinners’ manager) seemed to think it was a great idea. And then Amelia got the bright idea to have the Snakeskinners have one of the Space Monkeys do a cover with them, and a tradition was born.  
  
John and Cam practiced John’s chosen song for about a week in advance of the performance, so naturally they spent a lot of time together, testing out arrangements, harmonies, the two of them on the Snakeskinners bus, John and his guitar a curious absence Rodney hadn’t even thought he’d notice (even though he would admit, under duress, that he missed their Sudoku races and everlasting game of Prime/Not Prime). Ronon and Teyla remarked they were glad John was making new friends, because they were ridiculously overprotective of John, as if he weren’t an adult. Rodney took advantage of John’s absence to work on new songs - no point in working on physics theories if John wasn’t around to be his human calculator - and spent a lot of time with Jennifer, and things were all right. The tour was going well. The bands were both doing well. Woolsey and Elizabeth were predicting good sales for their first album.  
  
Cam stepped onto the stage for the much-anticipated cover song of the night, and the fans screamed. And Rodney noticed - Cam and John were wearing matching black shirts. Rodney remembered when they’d had an unexpected free afternoon and Evan let them run loose in town and Jennifer dragged John off to go clothes shopping at a thrift store, and John had come back with the black shirt, which Ronon said was a used Air Force BDU shirt. He’d managed to find one that fit him and had little wings on it, like a fighter pilot, and Rodney remembered how John had looked in his little JROTC uniform in high school, how he’d stood tall and proud. That Cam was wearing a matching one (someone, probably Evan, had found them Sheppard and Mitchell patches) was a little odd, but Rodney also knew Cam’s father had been a USAF pilot, so maybe the military shirt made sense for him too.  
  
The matching shirts made a little less sense.  
  
But then John strummed on his guitar, gentle acoustic strains, and Cam sang, “ _I’ve got another confession to make / I’m your fool._ ” He glanced at John out of the corner of his eye, fond and amused, like they were sharing a secret. “ _Everyone’s got their chains to break holding you._ ”  
  
The tight feeling in Rodney’s chest rose into his throat when Cam sang, “ _Are you gone and on to someone new?_ ”

And Rodney knew John and Cam were sleeping together. He'd assumed the sly glances they were trading during sound check were just shared glee at their fanboy plan given the go-ahead (Teyla was joining the Snakeskinners for their cover of Simple Man), but now he could see it was something else. Heat. Lust.  
  
So he was unsurprised when, after the Space Monkeys were done on stage, he spotted Cam drawing John into a shadowy alcove backstage, winding his arms around John’s waist and pulling him in for a slow, sweet kiss. What he was surprised to see, however, was the way Cam stroked a hand down the side of John’s face, his expression terribly tender, or the way John leaned into the caress like a parched man seeking water.  
  
But then Jennifer was tugging Rodney to go join her and the others - save Teyla - in the pit, and Rodney went with her, because if he lost himself in the warmth of her body and the scent of her skin and the shared motion of dance, the strange knot in his chest would loosen.  
  
After the buses rolled out - John tucked into his bunk and sleeping soundly, because he slept like a cat these days, forever and with random naps (when he wasn’t huddled over his guitar and tucked into Cam Mitchell’s side) - Rodney took his superior knowledge of John to the others.  
  
“John and Mitchell are dating,” he said.  
  
Ronon raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure?”  
  
Rodney nodded. “Couldn’t you see it tonight? The way they were looking at each other during the duet.”  
  
Jennifer thought back for a moment, and then she nodded, a smile spreading across her face. “Yes. You’re right! They’re kinda cute together, don’t you think?”  
  
Ronon and Teyla exchanged unreadable looks.  
  
Rodney frowned. “Aren’t you happy for him? I’m pretty sure he never dated any males in high school. Mitchell’s probably his first real boyfriend, right?”  
  
Teyla leaned in. “Rodney, are you completely sure?”  
  
“Of course I am. I saw them kissing backstage.”  
  
“I suppose we should tell Elizabeth,” Teyla said slowly.  
  
Jennifer swatted her on the arm. “Let them have their fun for a few days, okay? They’ve managed to keep it under wraps for this long. Elizabeth and Evan and Xiaoyi and Walter will organize them and polish them to death. They’re probably in that fun phase, you know, where everything the other person does is perfect and you think about them all the time and you’re giddy. John deserves this. He’s been tired and unhappy as it is.”  
  
Teyla pressed her lips into a thin line and exchanged another look with Ronon, but said nothing. Rodney would have thought they’d be glad, that John was finally brave enough to date.  
  
He felt strangely vindicated, though, when he overheard Ronon and Teyla’s conversation with John when they cornered him the next day.  
  
“You are dating Cameron Mitchell?” Teyla asked in a low voice.  
  
“I wouldn’t say we’re going steady,” John began.  
  
“But you are affectionate with each other. You are fond of him,” Teyla pressed.  
  
“Yes,” John said.  
  
“Would you get pissed if he started seeing someone else?” Ronon asked.  
  
“As long as he talked to me about it first, no,” John said. “I mean, for now it’s just the two of us, but we’re not soulmates. We like each other. We’re having fun. No one’s going to get hurt.”  
  
“Are you sure about that?” Ronon sounded so grim, so serious.  
  
“It was Cam’s idea,” John protested.  
  
“It’s not Cam I’m worried about,” Teyla said.  
  
John snorted. “No need to worry about me. Cam and I are fine. It won’t affect either band, I swear.”  
  
“John -”  
  
“I like him. He likes me back. It’s a lot better than I’ve had - ever.”  
  
“If you’re sure,” Teyla said.  
  
“I am sure,” John said, and Rodney didn’t know why he hated the finality in John’s tone.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Kicking My Heels by Tyler Hilton.
> 
> Song credits:
> 
> Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen  
> Hum Hallelujah - Fall Out Boy  
> Best of You - Foo Fighters  
> Simple Man - Lynyrd Skynrd


End file.
